October Presents a Night of Hannibal Buress, Thundercat, and Great Beer

We’ve had a fun year here at October writing about beer alongside other things we love like sports, movies, music, and travel. And while it’s been thrilling, it’s also been a lot of hard work building this thing from scratch and making it grow and we can’t thank you enough for all the reads, shares, likes, and notes you’ve sent.

In order to thank you, we thought it would be best to throw a party. Along with partners Pitchfork and React Presents, we’re hosting a unique event featuring comedian Hannibal Buress, musicians Thundercat, Cold Specks, DJ Tony Trimm, Esteban La Groue and 11 breweries. It all goes down at Chicago’s Lyric Opera House at 5pm on Dec 29th. With your ticket, you get the comedy, the music, and unlimited three ounce beer samples from 5-7 pm.

It all serves as a shoutout to you and the fun we’ve had. A shoutout for every like, every share, even every look – you’ve been awesome. Shoutout to the guy who wrote in just to tell us about making his own “light beer” back in the 60s by adding water to the kegs and not telling his friends so they could drink all day and not get drunk. That guy is a special kind of problem-solver.

But we’ve just taken it one day at a time – not that that’s special or anything. As Hannibal Buress would say, “Yes, so is everybody. Because that's how time works.”

However, even we weren’t prepared for the level of year-end party we’d be lucky enough to help throw with one of our favorite comedians, alongside some of our favorite breweries.

Who wouldn’t want to taste beers from the country’s best breweries, and then laugh at Buress’ special brand of humor, and then dance a little? You’ll even have a little bit of time off before New Year’s Eve. It’s perfect.

It’s fitting to have Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner on such a diverse bill. The bassist – whose father Ronald Bruner, Sr., was the drummer for Diana Ross and Gladys Knight – used to ply his nimble trade for Erykah Badu and Flying Lotus before setting off on his own.

But that doesn’t describe his musical influences completely. Thundercat’s first real gig was as part of punk band Suicidal Tendencies. Then he made Show You the Way with Michael McDonald. Dude can handle anything.

The night will flow between laughing, dancing, and beer sampling, so you’ll also have a chance to enjoy Cold Specks’ meandering melodies, haunting and raw voice, and emotional catharsis. It’s not heavy, just sounds that way, like a dark lager.

If you’re here, you like all sorts of things and aren’t defined by one love. And that’s why we threw a party for you with beer, music, and comedy.